The Annual IWSG Anthology Contest

Word count: 3500-6000

Genre: Mystery/Crime/Thriller

Theme: Tick Tock. The story revolves around a clock, is time sensitive, or has something about a specific time. This theme has plenty of scope and we’re open to pretty much anything along these lines. No erotica, R-rated language, or graphic violence.

Story deadline: November 1st 2017

How to enter: Send your polished, formatted, previously unpublished story to admin @ insecurewriterssupportgroup.com before the deadline passes. Please include your contact details, your social links, and if you are part of the Blogging or Facebook IWSG group.

Judging: The IWSG admins will create a shortlist of the best stories. The shortlist will then be sent to our official judges.This year, we are honored to have seven incredible judges. For full details check out the IWSG Website.

Prizes: The winning stories will be edited and published by Freedom Fox Press next year in the IWSG anthology. Authors will receive royalties on books sold, both print and eBook. The top story will have the honor of giving the anthology its title.

We’re excited to see the creativity and enthusiasm that’s such a part of this group put into action. So don your creative caps and start writing. And spread the word!
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Don’t forget the Show Your Writer Insecurity Contest is October 4! See the site for details. Cool prizes.

On Being Finished and Needing Help #IWSG

The big question this month for the Insecure Writer's Support Group is, When do you know your story is ready? 

With my daily devotional, Cling to God, coming out later this month, this question has been on my mind a lot lately. It's a question I've struggled with for a while, and will continue to struggle with for each separate piece I write. I may be too much of a perfectionist. Consequently I love deadlines because they keep me focused and there's only so much faffing and doubting and nail-biting and questioning a person can do before the final edits have to be in.

Honestly, I believe a piece of writing is never completely finished. If you had all the time in the world, you could tweak it endlessly. And it gets worse as time passes because as you grow and change, your ideas or the way you express yourself also grow and change. The piece will never be perfect. So don't try for perfection. All you can do is make sure the story has gone through all the stages of critiquing and multiple editing passes, and also make sure you've taken a break to get some eye-clearing distance. After that, if all you are seeing is tweaks, then send that baby out. That's when you'll really know if it was ready or not.

How about you? When do you know your story is ready?
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The IWSG Short Story Contest 
Happy news!! Due to a number of inquiries, we've decided to drop the word count limit for our Fantasy 'Hero Lost' short story contest to 3000-6000 words. So get writing! For more info on the contest, go here.

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Help! As I mentioned earlier in this post, my book is coming out later this month. October 18th to be precise. I am also in the middle of sorting through my horded collection of junk, which was the result of living in this house for almost thirty years, and trying to either sell, giveaway, or pack it for an interstate move to sunny Queensland. Madness, I say! I need help! No, I won't make anyone rummage through the dust bunnies at the back of closets. Instead, I need help with my book launch.

If you would love to help me spread the word about the daily devotional on or after October 18th, then please send me an email (lynfaw at gmail), or leave your email in the comments section. A quick tweet on the day would be awesome, or a Facebook share, or share the news on your blog, or if you'd like me to guest post on your blog some time just let me know. Whatever you'd like, I would be deeply grateful! 

Two Big Announcements of 2015

The First Big Announcement: The IWSG Short Story Contest 2015

After the success of last year’s IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond, we decided to create another book. This time it’s a short story competition with the top ten stories getting published in the anthology.

Eligibility: Any member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group is encouraged to enter – blogging or Facebook member. The story must be previously unpublished. Entry is free.

Word count: 5000-6000

Theme: Alternate History/Parallel Universe. That’s right, we’ve decided to go the speculative route. This theme has plenty of scope and we’re open to pretty much anything along these lines, except erotica or graphic violence.

Story deadline: November 1st 2015

How to enter: Send your polished, formatted, previously unpublished story to TheIWSG at gmail dot com before the deadline passes. Make sure to include your contact details.

Judging: We have some top industry editors, agents and authors to judge for us. We are super excited!  For more information, please check here.


Prizes: The winning stories will be edited then published by Freedom Fox Press in the IWSG anthology next year. Authors will receive royalties on books sold, both print and eBook. The top story will have the honor of giving the anthology its title. The winners will also receive an exclusive badge to display on their blog.

We’re excited to see the creativity and enthusiasm that’s such a part of this group put into action. So don your creative caps and start writing. And spread the word!
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The Second Big Announcement: The Body Institute by Carol Riggs 

The Body Institute
When 17-year-old Morgan Dey joins up as a Reducer at The Body Institute, her job is to take over another girl’s body, get her in shape, and then return to her own body. It’s innovative weight loss at its finest. Only there are a few catches…it’s not long before Morgan must decide if being a Reducer is worth the cost of her body and soul.

Congrats to Carol! I'm certain it's going to be a huge success. It's a great read with lots of thought-provoking concepts and plenty of page-turning twists.

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Next mini announcement: A quick look behind character creation.
If you want to know a little more about what I've been up to lately, I've written an article about character creation for games. You can check it out here.

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Final announcement: Since today is IWSG Day where we post about our insecurities or encourage others, I am happy to share that this is a very rare occasion: Little-to-no insecurities are currently plaguing me. Woo! How about you?

Have you read The Body Institute yet? Do you already have ideas for our writing contest? What have you been up to lately?